The Road Most Traveled
by KingAlanI
Summary: By Alan Gilfoy in the world of Suzanne Collins. Pre-trilogy AU. A dashing young man from the Seam catches the eye of a beautiful lady living in the Merchant Section. First-person present-tense POV from her perspective.
1. Just Say No

A/N

_By Alan Gilfoy in the world of Suzanne Collins. Pre-trilogy AU. A dashing young man from the Seam catches the eye of a beautiful lady living in the Merchant Section. First-person present-tense POV from her perspective._

_Some of this might not make sense unless you're already familiar with the series._

"I think I'm in love. No, I know I'm in love."

"So, Ingrid, who's the unlucky guy?"

"Shut up, Priscilla. I have a feeling Jacob Everdeen and I are very lucky."

Mom said, "Tell us about him, dear." She was more positive than my sister, although I suppose that isn't saying much.

I was afraid that neither of them would have a positive reaction to this. Jacob is from the Seam neighborhood, a coal miner like the rest of its residents. We're merchants - far better people living in a far better part of town, or so the rest of my family thought. Old stories insisted that such things didn't matter when it came to love; it sure didn't seem to bother me and Jacob so far. My best friend Maysilee died in the Hunger Games arena five years ago, comforted by a friendship with Haymitch, the Seam boy who did make it out alive. The Capitol, the truly rich in Panem, laughed as they killed Maysilee, crushed Haymitch's spirit and did the same things to who knows how many others. My folks rationalized that we didn't have it as bad, but to me that was not good enough.

I would relish the reveal. "Okay, Mother. We happened to be walking around town at the same time. I stopped dead in my tracks when he started to sing. Even the birds stopped to listen." Artistic types are fairly common here in the Merchant Section, so this wouldn't be too surprising. However, we looked different for the most part, and Jacob's physical features clearly marked him as amongst the poorest of District Twelve. "I looked straight into his gray eyes, and I knew." No response. _Did they not hear me, or had they heard exactly what I said?_ I went on. "I waved him over to my side of the street. The sweat on his dark hair and toned skin glistened as the reflection changed during his walk across the street."

Once Mother got the point, she was aghast. "You can do better than some Seam rat! They only want one thing anyway!"_ Yes, a pretty young__ lady like me can afford to have standards, and I do. He obviously must be something special if I'm already thinking about him like this. I might not mind _that_ with a man who looks like him anyway_.

Father didn't exactly approve either, but he was calmer about it. "Maybe you two are a good fit for each other. But don't choose him just to be rebellious; you'll regret that."

Mother cut back in. "I'm not some lovestruck youngster anymore. You'll regret it anyway. Love might not last. He might not last – doesn't he work in those filthy coal mines? Would he be worth giving up everyone and everything you have over here anyway?" _Even if this works out, would I really ditch my whole life for him? It was hard enough losing just Maysilee, and everyone I knew would __be as good as dead to me if I ran off with Jacob. This seemed cruel __and ignorant of my supposed friends and family. Yet at times I could still see beauty, kindness, patience and virtue. They were crazy, but they were mine._

But I couldn't resist the temptation. I was young and I thought I knew everything; it's so hard to change a fool's mind. Later that week, the next chance we had, we spent the afternoon together. Here I am in my twenties, looking the part of an idiot schoolgirl. I'm lying down in the meadow, my chin resting on my hands as my head looks up at him. He sung best when not lying down, you see. The tune that captivated me was a simple work chant. This was a full-on love song, and it was working.

"_Angels in Heaven know I love you_."

As he finished the piece, I rose from the ground and channeled his verse as I brushed aside my long blond hair. "Jacob, I know I love you."

"Ingrid, do you want to know what else this mouth can do?" My agreement was silent, yet obvious. His kiss had the intoxicating taste of exotic plants.

I continued acting with the infatuation of a schoolgirl, walking home hand in hand with him. We reached the Kolster house, probably a mansion compared to what he was used to. "Better not go in," I said. He could win a fight with them, whether physical or verbal, but that would just make things worse. We embraced again before he had to go.

We kept on dating. Maybe my folks figured fighting it harder would make me love him even more. Maybe they thought I'd grow tired of him – yeah right, it kept getting better. One day he said, "Ingrid, I have a secret to tell you."

"Is it something sweet?" Here I am giggling again.

"No, but it's something you must know. I go into the woods, and today, I want you to go with me." _Great, I'll be__ made an outcast_ and _a criminal_. Yet something calmed my fear-borne sarcasm – he did. "Lately, there's nothing I care about like you, so of course I'll keep you safe. After all, I know how to pull it off myself." So strong, yet so calm.

Once we actually crossed through the fence, I realized how beautiful it was out here. The aroma of his kiss wasn't so exotic after all – it came from these woods that he was obviously so happy to be in. There was a sense of awe as I looked up into the tall trees. I recognized many of the medicinal plants, as well I should from working in the family apothecary. Jacob eagerly started naming the others.

He slowed down when we came to a particular cluster of flowers. Their petals were rounded and yellow, with the center an even more vivid yellow. He picked one and threaded the stem through my hair. "Primroses. They're almost as beautiful as you are." _Swoon. I got compliments like that all the time, but he actually meant it, and I actually felt it for him_. As I started to stumble, he steadied me with his hands around my back. I'm sure brushing up against my bust was not accidental, but I didn't mind. Amongst other things, this _was_ a good place for lovers to be alone. "They can't kiss back, but you can sure kiss them."

"I think I shall."

As I released my blouse's buttons, I said, "Go on, lick something besides your lips." He did and I almost wished he wouldn't stop.

"Is it time?" We both knew what that supposedly unclear statement meant – _fuck me_ is the same in any language, verbal or nonverbal.

"No, not quite yet." I fixed myself back up, and it was obvious that it was time to end things for today, but we still walked back glowing. He showed me how to dart back to safety and we parted ways to head back to our homes on different sides of the district. It would be a short walk between the Kolster and Everdeen residences, but certain people made it seem worlds apart.

"You were out with _him_ again, weren't you?" The venom in Mother's voice hung thick in the air. I let my silence speak for itself. I could plead his romanticism and many other things, but it would do no good. However, I had a bounty of healing herbs, and she was too practical to pass up a bagful of those – even the Merchant Section couldn't afford to waste like the Capitol could. They salved her anger for now as I made plans to see him yet again. I took the primrose out of my hair and pressed it in one of the back pages of my diary.

We were both bolder about our second trip into the woods together. He pulled a bow and a quiver of arrows out of a fallen log. "Angel, I'm not out here just to pick flowers." He had a unique sort of grace for this, arrow after arrow finding their mark in small woodland creatures. I imitated his careful tread as I found more herbs.

This time we'd both head back to his house. The building looked even worse than I anticipated. The shack was only half as large as our house, if that. It was made of rough, weathered and cracking boards. He opened the door and I saw a dingy mattress slung on the floor to the right of the entranceway. "You sleep on that?"

"Yes, myself and my brothers."

One of them spoke up. "So this is the legendary Ingrid Kolster – Jake wasn't kidding. He can't stop talking about you, and I understand why."

"Thank you."

Then we heard from his mother. "I'm glad you love each other, but, Jake, can you take care of a Townie though?" This was downright mild compared to the kinds of things my mother said, but I could still feel the disdain in her voice.

The other Everdeens were glad to see Jacob and welcomed me. Their surroundings made it look they'd be miserable, but they were happy. My family was often the other way around. "Jacob, I don't know how you do it. I'm certainly not sure how I could. We are in love, but I'm not sure how that would weather the stress. I admire your will and ability to survive gracefully, but I'm not sure if I could ever adjust to crossing the line." _Would the wonders of the woods be our salvation, or would the forbidden flora and fauna doom us?_

"I'd help you adjust, and we'd still have each other. These past few months have been exhilarating. I can only imagine how wonderful a whole life with you could be. My angel, will you be my wife?"

Love conquers all only in fantasy. He might sing out to the heavens, but the heavens won't buy the bread. My heart still thought of saying yes, but my brain said, "No."

A/N

_I imagine that their canon courtship went something like this, except that she didn't have doubts or ignored them (and said yes of course)_


	2. Second Chances

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually turns him down, not wanting to move to the bad part of town with him or disappoint her family by doing so._

_A/N_

_Posted the last chapter more than three months ago. Sorry about that!_

_I did revise and expand Chapter 1. For instance, I added a lot about Ingrid's rebelliousness._

"Jacob, we aren't simply not engaged – it's over. I'm sorry."

"I understand, though I think we'll both still have fond memories of each other."

"I think so."

"You're still an angel." We shared one last embrace before we went our separate ways, literally and figuratively.

I flung my bag of herbs on the counter. Father was the only one nearby, and he said, "Jacob again? I should have known."

"Yes, but this is the last time."

"What brought you to your senses?"

"He asked me to marry him…"

"What?!"

"…and I brought myself to say no. I saw his house, met his family. However much they love each other, however much we love each other, I can't see myself making such a drastic change."

"I knew you'd figure that out. Your mother will probably want to throw a party _to help you get over the breakup_." _So even he thought Mother's at__titude was a bit ridiculous._ "Think about it this way. He must have set a high standard for you. Keep that in mind with the Town guys. Also, don't feel bad for him – if he can tempt you, he'd seem even better for a Seam woman, relatively speaking."

"I guess so. I think we'll both make good use of the second chance."

Some guys knew about the breakup and were acting like vultures. As a pretty young woman, I was used to that kind of nonsense. As a smart young woman, I knew to brush it off. Besides, I could use some time to think things over while waiting for the next gentleman.

It turns out I wasn't alone for long. "Why's a gal like you alone?" I turned around and saw Phillip from the bakery. Most guys wanted to be there. Right from the start, he focused on why I needed someone there.

"Just went through a hard breakup."

"Who'd leave _you_?" The incredulity was sincere, and he had a point.

"I left him – great guy, but someone from the Seam probably wouldn't have worked out for a Town girl like me." He started to get up and give me some distance. "No. Stay here." He did offer a stocky shoulder to cry on. "Seems you're lucky that I made the levelheaded decision instead of the romantic one."

"I think I'll prove to be both," he said with an awfully sweet smile on his face. "I always had my eye on you, but never could work up the nerve to say it until now."

"Apparently."

"And most of the guys who had the nerve to say it don't deserve such a lovely lady."

"You got that right."

Priscilla evidently saw us. When I got home, she was there to tease me. "I hear someone's getting over Jacob already."

"I won't forget him, but yes, Phillip seems very promising."

Mother overheard. "Phil the baker? Much better."

I didn't want to make another mistake, but this started to go better than I could have hoped. It looked like I'd be in for a treat once Phillip let me get to know him. It's hard to compare to Jacob, but it's hard to compare to Phillip too – they have totally different personalities. Jacob is so fiery and brave, Phillip so calm and timid, yet they were both strong, charming and kind.

He wanted me to see him at work. It was clear how much he loved his job. Effortlessly moving sacks of flour around made it clear how and/or why he got so strong – this was pleasantly mild compared to most guys' attempts at showing off. It was sweet both literally and figuratively as he made some treats for us to share. His folks didn't mind us hanging around the shop so much – I think they were pleasantly surprised to see him with a woman, let alone one of my caliber. Besides, though I loved healing, you can't really have so much fun in an apothecary shop.

Over those late spring and early summer months, I started to feel that Phillip was the one, or at least the two. I didn't want to plant the idea in his head, whether with hints or with more direct comments. It would be a challenge to wait for him, but I wanted the guy to figure it out himself.

I still saw Jacob sometimes. He knew about Phillip Mellark, and I knew about Jacqueline O'Neill, but there were no hard feelings – heck, both of us moving on helped prevent hard feelings.

Now it was time for the 55th reaping – I was now too old, but I'd never get past it, thanks to Maysilee's death. As usual, we dressed up for being herded into the town square. As usual, two Seam kids were sent off to die. Jacob remained impassive, so they must be no one he knew.

Phillip and I would meet up back at the bakery. I got there first and was waiting for him when Jacob shows up. "Is Mellark around?"

"No."

"Well, I'm about to propose to Jackie – this is your last chance."

"I'm still afraid it wouldn't work between us. I was afraid no one would be able to measure up to you, but Phillip is working out better than I could have imagined. The two of you are different, but I'm attracted to some of the same great things with both of you. Ms. O'Neill is a very lucky lady."

I finished by joking, "May the odds be ever in your favor." He understood - black humor was one of our few coping methods for the Games here in the outer districts. Well, that and the liquor that Haymitch probably gets from one of Jacob's black market friends.

We were shown some of the other reapings and had to watch. As usual, Two was brutal enough to gladly volunteer for this. However, the boy, a tall handsome blonde, missed a step as he kissed his girlfriend goodbye.

When Phillip got back, I said, "Jacob's marrying someone else, so that solves that problem."

"I could give them a toasting loaf…" He was a generous man, after all. "…shall I make two? Ingrid Kolster, you complete me."

"I'd marry you in a heartbeat. I want more of this feeling."  
"Me too. Months later, I still sometimes wonder if I'm dreaming."

Phillip greeted his parents with "Meet your new daughter-in-law."

His mother responded with "Congratulations. You two do make a wonderful couple."

Weddings are simple around here, so it would be easy enough to just go through with it tomorrow. The guys wore some of the nicer clothes they already had; the ladies rented a standard white gown that had been worn many times before. I'd fetch mine tomorrow morning.

Phillip's brother Paul saw us laughing together and was the next to congratulate us, although half-heartedly. "I'm happy for you, Phil, I guess."

"Yeah, I heard things aren't going too well with you and Priscilla," he replied.

"That would be an understatement. I'll love my kids, but not their mother."

This was a pet peeve of mine, so I sarcastically said, "You're the ones that didn't use birth control." I then switched to a helpful tone of voice. "I am a midwife, not just their aunt. Isn't Priscilla due any day now?"

"Heck, any moment now. I came over to announce that, but my fellow Mellarks were quite understandably distracted."

I did my best to assist with the birth while on emotional autopilot – two boys with the baker names Pan and Pumpernickel. I barely noticed that Pan was just before midnight and Pumpernickel just after. I handed in the birth certificates the next morning while at the Justice Building to pick up my wedding dress.

_Evidently Jacqueline accepted_, I thought as I saw Jacob follow a young woman into the hall. The four of us, though only in our mid-20's, were relatively old for the crowd in the Justice Building that day. Many young lovers got married as soon as they were both free of the Reaping. The August 2nd crowd was a big fancy wedding by District 12 standards.

We often had Hazelle Hawthorne do our laundry, and she had mentioned getting married in this way last year. She was here with her husband Thomas to cheer on this year's batch. Maysilee's sister Melody was here, but without much enthusiasm – she took her twin's death very hard. Even with time, neither me nor her new husband could really help her get over it. I definitely understood what she saw in Mr. Undersee though – a tall handsome blonde, and a smart young man who was by Panem standards going places.

All the married couples present read the vows together, and all the newlyweds answered together. The ritual statements ended with "Will you honor and cherish the ones you've chosen, throughout all the highs and lows this life presents you with?" Even a joyous Phillip was too mild-mannered to shout 'I will', but he said it clear as day and I more than made up for his lack of volume.

It took signing the marriage certificates to make it official. This of course had to be done couple-by-couple. There were plenty of witnesses, but two adults unrelated to the couple needed to officially sign as such. Melody and Mr. Undersee were doing most of this. It so happened that the Everdeens were right ahead of us in line. Jacob and Jacqueline signed and passed their pens to us. I thought it was a wonderful peaceful gesture to choose us as their witnesses. They returned the favor once Phillip and I signed our own certificate. I was now officially Ingrid Mellark, and I couldn't be happier.

Everybody left the Justice Building to go off to their own private celebrations. The two of us would have a house to ourselves in town. We walked there hand in hand, but he lifted me up to go through the doorway. There was a song the wedding party always sang at this point. James Larkin, a friend of Phillip's father, was playing along to it on the fiddle. Everyone here was a much worse singer than Jacob, but the song still sounded incredibly sweet. Phillip put me down inside so we could have our first dance – the two of us and many other couples were boisterously flying across the room. My friend worked at a sweet shop, and I married a baker, so he had relatively hearty refreshments.

Then we went off to our own very private celebration. There was another step before we went to bed together – the toasting. We built a fire together to make toast, and shared the crisped bread. No one in District Twelve really feels married without it. He said, "very special bread for a very special lady. To many, many years together."

"Cheers." _Crunch crunch crunch_. Crumbs covered the floor near the fireplace. _It was a good thing the toasting was before bed_.

"I do want children someday, but not yet."

"No worries. I feel the same way, and as the apothecary's daughter, I do know my birth control."

As we undressed for bed, I noticed that he was of wholly average size, yet as a lover he was as tender as he was in all other aspects of his life. As we savored our first time, I wondered what the future held.

A/N

_I may expand the dating scenes and the wedding-night sex scene_


	3. A Slice Of Heaven

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually turns him down, not wanting to move to the bad part of town with him or disappoint __her family by doing so. Phillip Mellark proves to be an excellent second choice, and she marries her new man the same day Jacob marries his new woman._

**A/N**

Sorry this took so long! I have so many other great story ideas that I also like to work on. :)  
Also, I'm discontinuing the edited/T-rated version of this story, sticking with only this M-rated version.**  
****  
****Chapter**

"I'll always be grateful that I had a chance with the most beautiful woman in the district." We were still in our honeymoon phase, but most everything he did and said _was_ sweet like this.

"True, but you did take the chance and have the charm to make something of it, and I'm grateful for that," I responded. I had made my decision about Jacob and I was living with it – I'd live quite well with it, apparently.

Every morning I woke up to the wonderful smell of baking bread, and my day always started with Phillip serving me the first slices off the first loaves. "I always think of you first," he explained. The steam from the fresh bread softened the cheese he served with it. The rest of the menu depended on what he could trade for, and he always gave the other person a great bargain. I would help him and his father with the baking later in the day, but he said someone as beautiful as me needs lots of beauty sleep, and I wasn't about to argue.

We dressed lightly all day simply because it was the middle of summer. "It's awfully hot near the ovens – even this thin shirt gets to be too much," Phillip complained.

"But if you took it off, most of the other women in town would be jealous of me," I countered.

"Most other men in the district are already jealous of me, even with you fully clothed," he answered.

"Go ahead and work in the kitchen with your shirt off. Then we'd be even. Those other town women wouldn't know what they're really missing," I said. "It would show them how strong and strapping you are, which is sometimes shrouded, but they wouldn't see how sensual you can be, and that's what I really find sexy, not that stack of sinews," I said while squeezing his right forearm.

"I was too shy to show them," he admitted.

"You were spirited enough to snag me. It's simple - all you ever gotta do is be a good man one time to one woman," I said to make it plain and simple.

"Somehow I knew that you and only you would be that one for me," he smiled, seeing the sense in what I said.

As he sat next to me and ran his hands through my loose hair, I thought it was too bad we didn't have more time together in bed in the mornings. However, we had plenty of time in the evenings and wore especially simple clothes so we had easy access to each others' bodies. After dinner as opposed to after breakfast, I was glad to answer his hands, guiding them down my gown as I opened it to our pleasure. They way he breathed on my nipples and took them into his mouth, each breast in turn, gave me a delightful little shiver. I caressed the base of his shaft with equal tenderness and opened the rest of my gown to reveal little in the way of climbing on top of him. When finished, we fell asleep with our bodies still tangled together, having become one physically as well as mentally.

Some men fucked, Jacqueline reported that some did that very well, but Phillip made love. We shared a very sensual dance the next evening. He pulled me close, to feel my breasts against his chest, but I could just as surely feel his arms and hands against my back - so strong as they tossed hundred-pound sacks of flour around the bakery, but so gentle as they caressed me right now. As we swayed to the instrumental emanations of the music chip, those hands soon found my hips.

With his tongue touching mine, he brought those hands around to the front of my skirt. He pretended to fumble with the button and zipper, but I knew his fingers were more deft than that – he was just trying to massage my crotch, which was rapidly becoming drenched in anticipation of his manhood. With the skirt on the floor, he gave the same attention to my blouse.

His shirt and pants slid off. For a few glorious minutes, we danced with only our underwear separating us, but soon lost even that pretense. His fingers showed their true ability working at my bra clasp. "To contain your breasts must be the most difficult yet most pleasant job in the world," he said of the garment. It landed on the floor next to the skirt and as he tugged at my waistband, my panties soon joined the rest of my clothes. As he carried my fully naked body to the bed, I felt him press into my hip and could barely wait for him to press somewhere else.

He laid me down on top of the blankets and pushed my legs apart. His bulge springing fully into view was one of my favorite sights lately. He massaged me directly instead of through cotton; his hand came back covered in my juices, and he knew that meant I wanted him inside me right away. He brought his chest down onto mine as he put his tip between my most personal folds of skin. He pushed in as slowly as he could and I soon arched and squirmed with pleasure. I screamed his name in a tone of voice meant only for these most joyful and private moments. The tightness around his manhood soon brought him to similar levels of ecstasy as he went in and out with such tender strokes. I felt his spasm and I felt the soft spot where his seed landed inside of me. I savored that sensation safely thanks to my own use of the Kolster stockpile of birth control herbs.

I certainly hadn't forget about my past life, especially since I had turned down Jacob to take the road most traveled, maintain access to what I had always known. I still went to the apothecary to process herbs. Sometimes I even combined the work of my husband's family with that of my birth family, using bread or sweets as a way of getting people to take the more noxious potions.

One day I heard Phillip scream, and I ran to him in the baker's back room. He had burnt his left arm bad while his right was sliding pans in and out of the oven. I was quite familiar with treating burns because of desperate injured miners and due to Phillip's encounters with hot surfaces form before we were married. He smiled at the sight of me, even more so when I actually began to treat it – cold water, numbing cream and a loose cloth bandage.


	4. Gazing Upon Hell

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually turns him down, not wanting to move to the bad part of town with him or disappoint __her family by doing so. Phillip Mellark proves to be an excellent second choice, and she marries her new man the same day Jacob marries his new woman. Her and Phillip are incredibly happy together._

**A/N**

I focus more on the Games in general than Ingrid in particular; there's more of her in the previous and next chapters.

**Chapter**

There were only a few things to broadcast before they entered the arena, but the Games did not stop because my married life had begun. We tried to block out the pitiful appearance of the malnourished miners' children, but it was no use – the Capitol's power to make us remember all too often overwhelmed our desire to forget. The futility of their brave stance broke many a heart not already shattered by the pressure on us.

Amber and Onyx, luxury names from the low-numbered luxury district, both hoped to provide their district with consecutive wins, and Emerald last year had come hot on the heels of Star three years before that. It had happened once before, a girl and a boy from Two when I was younger. It was an angle that appealed to much of the audience, but it was a hard potion to swallow in the outer districts that were unlikely to have a Victor at all.

Livia was scary, and so was Julius, but he had a less noxious attitude which made us hate him not so much. We had all seen him quickly kiss a girl as he walked up to the Reaping stage. Caesar Flickerman had been a key figure in the Games media blitz for over two decades, and while interviewing Julius he observed "Seems you have a soft spot for a girl back home."

The confident young man responded with "Teresa Anthony. I also have a very hard spot for her." I doubted the wisdom of saying it, but I couldn't blame him for thinking it – we'd seen her on the reaping reruns, and she had a beautiful athletic figure. Many of the men and boys near me in front of the town square screens laughed heartily; I bet Teresa was blushing profusely wherever people watched the Games in her district. The Capitol audience devoured the ribaldry even more than the average male did – in their sex-soaked culture, it wouldn't be off-putting at all. What did they have to do all day besides fuck? And watch us die?

Rosalind Watson and Nicholas Edison, the pair from Three, had great intellectual conversations with Caesar. Conch and Neptune of Four were an inseparable team. Like Rosie and Nick, Jackson Thread of District Eight smartly parried Caesar in his interview. Diane Branch of Eleven opened her interview by repeating another theme. "Julius Adams isn't the only tribute with someone special at home. Mr. Flail Mackey was looking so forward to taking me to the Justice Building." Apparently, marrying right after the last reaping wasn't just a District Twelve thing. After that bit of wistful reflection, she said confidently "Well, I'll be taking him to Victors Village."

As usual, District Two's bloodthirsty volunteers were the favorites, followed closely by the tributes from the somewhat like-minded One and Four. We picked our own favorites here in the outer districts since we couldn't bear to support the Capitol's favorites. The clever District Eight boy and the stocky District Eleven girl seemed to have the best chances amongst the non-volunteers. Yet as another young adult in love, I sympathized with Julius as well as Diane.

Platforms in tubes raised tributes into the arena, a landscape of abandoned buildings and the countryside between them. The pile of supplies known as the Cornucopia was on the outskirts of one of the smaller 'settlements'. The timer counted down the last minute, the gong sounded, and the tributes rushed either towards some part of it or away from it as was their strategy.

Many tributes were slaughtered in the opening moments of the Games. Would that I could call it a battle, but it was really more of a massacre. The very first death was the little boy from Eleven, stabbed by Onyx. As was sadly commonplace, both of the District Twelve tributes were amongst the early fallen. Livia had literally shot both of them in the back as they tried to flee. Amber speared the girl from Eight. Julius impaled Track on his sword after the District Six male tried and failed to parry the blade with a staff he had pulled from the edges of the Cornucopia. Four butchered the pair from Five with the same weapons – thrown tridents, as would be expected from the fishing district. Onyx bludgeoned the girl from Six.

The Capitol heralded the deaths with cannons and retrieved the bodies, and the survivors regrouped. Jackson had formed an alliance with Diane and the District Three pair, opposing the usual alliance of volunteers. Jackson's and Diane's district partners would have joined them if they had made it out of the bloodbath.

The volunteers chased down some of the stragglers over the next few days. Livia got out her throwing knives again and killed the District Nine male the next morning. The day after that, Amber ran down the boy from Ten with her spear. The fourth day brought no cannons, no silent obituaries in the arena sky at night. The Capitol audience must be getting restless that we weren't dying quickly enough for them. Their sick wish was granted around the middle of the fifth day. The girl from Nine was gathering food when the wolf pack came down upon her. She ran to retrieve a crossbow, yet tripped in her haste. It appeared she made it to the weapon in time, but Julius still hacked at her arm with a sword in time.

The District Seven pair had stuck together, and the District Four pair was sent against them once the volunteers finally tracked them down. One and Two blocked the escape routes as Conch and Neptune's tridents found two more targets. However, the girl gravely wounded Neptune with her axe. We cheered at the first serious chance of a volunteer falling, but he made it through the night as Conch applied sponsor-gifted medicine to his injuries.

Trident 1 and Trident 2 found themselves fighting another district pair the next day, but this time it didn't work out quite so well for them. Jackson's countervailing alliance attacked them while slightly separated from One and Two – he and Diane distracted the other volunteers while Rosie and Nick went fishing. Their clubs blunted the points of the tridents – nevertheless, Neptune flipped the trident around and brutally struck Nick with the butt end of it. The District Three boy collapsed dead. Rosalind's club blows aggravated Neptune's injuries and gave Conch some new ones. Two brutal attacks two days in a row was too much for the District Four boy, and his death cannon soon followed Nick's. The opposing groups of separated allies reunited and converged on each other. Jackson put a crossbow bolt into Conch as Amber put a javelin into Rosalind. Rosie was dead, but Conch's allies had pulled the small arrow out and she lived for now. They dressed the wound as well as they could for amateurs in a constrained environment. Their success at the Cornucopia and with sponsors was the only reason they had the supplies to do even that. Nevertheless, her condition seemed critical.

A week into the Games, there were eight tributes left. The Capitol always made an especially big deal out of this stage of their cruel pageant. They interviewed people who knew the tributes back home. Those camera crews rarely visited Twelve; the last time they had was for Maysilee and Haymitch five years ago. This brought back the raw feelings from speaking to them about Miss Donner; the Capitol never let those distant memories rest, after all. As expected from the tributes' own interviews, Teresa Anthony and Flail Mackey were the stars of this part of Panem's circus.

Conch had barely made it to this stage, and fevered from her infected wound soon after. The District Ten girl had been a mystery, staying out of the way since the Reaping. This had brought her no trouble, but no help either – the same day Conch succumbed to injury, Laura succumbed to starvation. I knew the look – even living in the best part of Twelve, you couldn't avoid seeing it in Seam children.

Three days later, the twelfth day of the Games, Tribute Thread engineered another brilliant ambush on the volunteer camp. This one culminated in Diane stabbing Amber. They quit while they were ahead, separating as they retreated so the remaining Careers would have to separate to chase them down. Julius was surprisingly fleet-footed for such a big man; he beat Livia to Jackson and triggered the District Eight male's cannon with a swift sword slash. The District Eleven female was catching her breath against one of the support timbers of an abandoned building in the arena's ruined city. Diana wished she could have been so lucky once Onyx caught her, since he apparently had intentions of torture. Onyx kicked away her combat knife and whipped out pieces of rope to bind her. He roughly threw her arms behind her back and around the pillar, the cord digging into her wrists. Additional pieces restrained her neck and one of her legs.

*** Warning! This scene contains nonconsensual sex and especially graphic violence. You may wish to skip that; the end of the scene is marked by the next row of asterisks. ***

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He taunted "Imma kill you, bitch, but Imma have some fun first." We suspected what kind of 'fun' the sick bastard had in mind, but he made it crystal clear when he drew his dagger and began cutting her clothes off. He grabbed her shirt collar and slit the fabric down the middle as if it had a zipper or buttons. Then he tore it off at the sleeves. She was screaming, quite rightfully, and he stuffed the rag in her mouth. He cut her breasts free in a similar manner. He pulled out her belt and turned it into a metal-tipped whip, cracking it against the skin of her stomach. He yanked down her pants and underwear in one swift motion. He groped her crotch and said, "I think you want it, bitch".

"No," she whimpered, barely audible through the gag, at any volume clearly being broken by the torture. Mostly restrained, she didn't have the leverage to kick with the one leg that was still unbound. After he pushed her legs apart, he freed his bulge and thrust into her violently; the screams of pain were again clear through the mouth stuffed full of cloth as he hammered her several times.

The crime was particularly violent and traumatizing, so in some sick twisted way, it fit an arena. However, even the Capitol knew that this act would be repellent to the masses of sane Panem residents. A few years ago, a different sort of insanity had pervaded the games. Titus, a boy from Six, feasted on the flesh of his victims, and the Capitol had to stun him after each kill to be able to collect the bodies. Eventually he died in an avalanche that the Gamemakers had probably set up. They understood that such a repellent victor did them no good; did Onyx know that he had issued his own death sentence as he began to rape Diane? What had driven him to such depravity? Perhaps the sick bastard had thought it would play well to other sick bastards, which the Capitol certainly had plenty of. Maybe he hadn't been thinking at all as some of the basest human urges overtook him. He seemed full of blind rage over the fallen volunteers and uncontrolled desire for her body. He had the inflated sense of self to think he could get away with it, and he went about his sadism slowly. Especially since he was from a successful district, he could conceivably have developed an unhealthy obsession with the perks of winning the Games that he saw all around him. Wanting to ascend to the heights of being a Victor had driven many to mental depths, but usually not this dramatically. As he took more than his fill, it was hard enough to watch not even knowing her!

There was no one left to help her. Livia and Julius just as surely wanted her dead, although they certainly would not have gone about it in such a vile manner. With her ravaged body raw, Livia and Julius caught up with their fellow volunteer tribute. Had the Capitol steered Livia and Julius here to deliver Onyx's well-earned punishment? "I took care of Jackson!" Julius shouted, explaining the latest cannon to the remaining tributes. "Wait, Onyx, what the fuck are you doing?!" he screamed as he realized the nature of the remaining male tribute's crime. "Some 'man' you are!" he sneered as he ripped Onyx off of Diane's limp body.

"Thank you, thank you," Diane coughed as she finally spit out the gag.

Livia spoke gravely, offering what little apology she could. "Everyone knows how despicable that was; I would have at least killed you quickly and cleanly. In fact I will." She threw some of her knives at short range into Diane's forehead and another cannon sounded. Julius was not so charitable to the rapist. Onyx was still winded from being thrown on the ground. He was unarmed, and had literally been caught with his pants down. Julius drew one of his shorter blades and used it to cut off Onyx's penis, waving the organ in front of its former owner. It had still been fully engorged, and of a size that would have undoubtedly amplified Diane's physical sorrow, so Onyx quickly bled out. Would the Capitol morticians glue it back on the wrong way?

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*** end scene ***

With Diane tortured to death and Onyx killed in retaliation, these Games came down to Livia and Julius. It was a relatively clean fight by arena standards, Livia at range versus Julius hand-to-hand. Tribute Adams dodged Tribute Aurelius' bladed ammunition and deflected some of it with his own blade. He outlasted her knife supply and delivered the coup de grace with a cut to her leg. Throughout the fight she kept running away from him to get room to throw more blades, but eventually Julius had caught up with her. Those knives didn't have to be thrown, but Livia definitely would have been overmatched if she had tried that.

Livia's corpse was retrieved and another hovercraft came to pull Julius out alive. He had several cuts to show for it, from the blades he hadn't completely dodged and his injuries in past fights. Yet he lived, and the Victor hovercraft always had medics to patch up the wounds the Victor had received in the process of becoming one. Haymitch had been very near death when they pulled him out; this year's ambulance hovercraft had relatively easy work.

Once the Victor was stabilized, stylists and prep team fixed him up to display to the nation. Julius reveled in his success during a recap of the Games. "Teresa, I told you that would work," he announced into the camera to the girlfriend we all knew was watching. He then spoke to the general audience as represented by Caesar. "I made the last kill, and that's what counts. Most of them simply felt like doing what I had to do, but Onyx was a bad bastard who needed killing." Overall, while still brutal, he proved himself relatively humane for a District Two man. Though he might not know it yet, the Capitol were the real barbarians anyway.

Days after Julius was crowned, the year's Games broadcast was hardly over. Victors were a common sight in District Two, but Julius' return was still a popular event. He was flanked by that year's mentors, Flavia and Octavian. Octavian said "I know who you'd like to see first."

Teresa stepped forward, and Julius knelt in front of his woman. Everybody knew what this meant. "Teresa Anthony, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will!" He then presented her with some of the jewelry he had picked up in the Capitol. "Well, I had something important to tell you – I'm having your baby."

Those statements often went in the other order, and Julius took the news very well. "We'll be a wonderful family!" he shouted.

The wedding ceremony was another mandatory broadcast, the last of this year's Games season. Many District Two men and some women were Peacekeepers, which required what must be a horrible 20 years unmarried and childless. Perhaps that's one reason the Games were so popular in that district – winning them and/or being romantically involved with someone who did was a way out. So nineteen and eighteen was fairly young anywhere in the country, but especially so in their district. They were all smiles, as it should be, as it also was for the poor nobodies in our Justice Building 23 days ago. The broadcast gave a glimpse of the marriage certificate, and I noticed it was the same form used by even the humblest couples in Panem. Julius' mentor Octavian and one of Teresa's friends from way back signed off as the official witnesses. They were starting off right, and so had I.


	5. Major Decisions

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually turns him down, not wanting to move to the bad part of town with him or disappoint __her family by doing so. Phillip Mellark proves to be an excellent second choice, and she marries her new man the same day Jacob marries his new woman. Her and Phillip are incredibly happy together. However, they're all shaken by watching the brutality of t__hat year's Games._

**A/N**

I fixed a grammatically incorrect comma after a quote ending in an exclamation mark. That and a typo correction were my only edits since posting Chapter 4.

**Chapter**

On our wedding night, we had thought of children as something in our future. Evidently that future was coming sooner than we thought. I'm not sure where we got our baby enthusiasm from, but we definitely had it. Perhaps it came from being with our nephews, the cutest human beings ever of course. Maybe it spread from the other August newlyweds starting families right away – including but hardly limited to the Everdeen and Adams couples. Jackie said she and Jacob had wasted no time. "I had always seen the mother in me, and he had always seen the father in him. You know his father – he wants to be that kind of man himself. And I know how much his mother loves her three boys."

"Yeah, and with your two brothers, the kid will certainly have plenty of uncles," I responded. David and Stephen O'Neill were no Adam and Daniel Everdeen, but they weren't male versions of Priscilla Kolster either. My mother had warmed up to me with a son-in-law she liked better, and my father hadn't been that bad to begin with, but my sister still couldn't stand me. I think it was jealousy. I had attracted two wonderful men in Jacob and Phillip while she remained single, and with good reason.

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I kept on wanting children more and more, so I told Phillip "You'd be a wonderful father; the world would be a better place with more gentle men like you in it".

"And with more caring ladies such as yourself," he responded without missing a beat, his thoughts and mine perfectly synchronized.

"My birth control will wear off soon," I said hopefully.

"There's something else that could also be off soon," he said while winking at me and tugging at my clothes. _Oh yes, that's for sure._ I returned the favor. It was rather sloppy for us, the mess of clothes all over the floor, and the scraps that still remained on our bodies, but it turns out I rather liked it this way. He merely pushed aside my panties, instead of them coming all the way off, and he entered me that way. It meant he was inside me sooner, and I loved the feeling of part of his sack slapping against cotton while the other part hit right on my tender skin. As I felt his seed pump into my body, I hoped it fertilized me, but baby or not, he was welcome to treat me like that most anytime.

I lost track of all the times and ways we made love. Sometimes he found me in bed completely naked. Other times I lay there with nothing on under my dress, and he always took it as a pleasant surprise when he caressed me and found only one layer of fabric separating us – that layer was always quickly discarded, since it was the only thing between us and our desire. One time he saw me get out of the bathtub and we had each other while still standing.

Eventually I did not bleed and thus knew I was pregnant. "Our love bears fruit!" I announced joyously. He looked like the happiest man in the world and I felt like the happiest woman in the world. The sickness, the kicking, and the awkward movement to situate my growing belly all caused my enthusiasm to fade, yet I still couldn't wait to hold our little one.

We found out it was a girl. "Ceres, goddess of grain," Phillip suggested as he tenderly stroked my hair with one hand and patted the baby bump with the other. "It's from an old book I found," he explained, "suitable for heavenly creatures like yourself and our daughter."

I agreed by saying "and for you too, Bread Man". _That m__ust have been his dual intention, but he was too humble to admit it, bless him._

Hazelle was a few months ahead of me and kept showing more and more. For a few weeks in late winter she'd have to stop taking laundry. I had made the Hawthornes aware that midwifery was one of my skills, so now _I'd_ be visiting _her_ for work at some point. Thomas came running on March 3rd – it was a very gloomy evening. I ran back with him, and right after we got back inside the Hawthorne shack, a nasty storm broke out. The only other person there was Thomas' mother Rose. The four of us were about to become five, and we could barely hear each other over the racket outside. I couldn't spare any morphling, but Hazelle was grateful for the painkiller herbs I could provide. As I continued filling out the birth certificate, I asked "What was the name again?"

"Gale, g-a-l-e. He'll become as strong as the wind that blows this night," Thomas answered. I thought it was odd but poetic, and the mother and grandmother seemed to agree. "Thomas is the middle name, a Thomas II might have been confusing anyway."

I was barely able to assist Jacqueline when Andrew was born, because my own child was imminent. However, as with Hazelle, even a hobbled midwife visiting the shack was more than most Seam women got. Another child was born under very different conditions the next day, the new victor's new son. Julius still had novelty value as the most recent victor, was still young and strong unlike many previous winners, and the pregnancy announcement had been the key part of his homecoming. The news was the major event on the Capitol TV show _Where Are They Now?_

I was relatively immobilized at eight months pregnant and ended up watching the broadcast.

Julius Adams was in District Two's hospital, a hospital mind you, shocking to someone used to working with herbal potions in run-down settings. _Was the Capitol oblivious or were they trying to stir up jealously? _Julius strode purposefully out of the maternity ward, him and a doctor flanking mother and child on a gurney. His grandfather was elsewhere in the building, exiting the world as his son was entering it. The old man was the newborn's namesake. Grandson, granddaughter in law and great-grandson were the first to his bedside since they were already at the hospital. Teresa seemed clear-minded, neither writhing in pain nor doped up on painkillers. So did the old man – age apparently had harmed his body but not his mind. He leaned up from his hospital bed to say "So, grandson, that's the baby boy you were going to name after me? I thought that beautiful wife of yours was almost due."

"Yes, exactly," Julius answered.

"I'm glad I lived long enough to see it, just long enough, apparently. So proud of you. My son-in-law is a Peacekeeper veteran just like me, his son's a Victor which is even better, and now that man has a son of his own," the old man continued.

Teresa handed the baby from bed to bed. The elder Cato held the baby's left arm awkwardly in his frail hands. The baby smiled as he brushed up against the old man's cheek. Teresa cradled her newborn again. The old man's last words were "Gonna be a big strong handsome boy like his dad".

When Ceres came four weeks later, I was in a haze from the pain my herbs barely touched. There was no painkiller like watching Phillip hold our child and then taking her in my arms and putting her to the breast.

Soon enough, it was time for another Games. No one knew the girl, an orphan from the community home, but it seems we all knew the boy. "Daniel Everdeen," the Capitol representative trilled. He was Jacob's _younger_ brother, the one who had complimented me when I went to meet the Everdeens. The words rang in my head again: _So this is the legendary Ingrid Kolster – Jake wasn't kidding. He can't stop talking about you, __and I understand why._ Many tried to care about all the tributes, but were especially concerned with the ones they knew. I was no different. My first year as Ingrid Mellark did not end so well as it had begun.


	6. Daniel Everdeen

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually follows her family's advice to turn him down. Phillip Mellark proves to be an excellent second choice, and she marries her new man the same day Jacob marries his new woman. Her and Phillip are incredibly happy together. However, they're shaken by taking in the brutality of the Games. Even so, the victor, Ingrid/Phillip and Jacqueline/Jacob start families. An existing family is threatened when Jacob's brother is sent into the next year's arena._

******A/N**

I recently started thinking about the series in a racial context, thanks to the katnissisoliveskinneddealwithit tumblr. I was already well into this story with Seam/Town as classism only, but I'll keep the new perspective in mind going forward.

**Chapter**

I was the only person besides the Everdeens to go to the Justice Building to say goodbye to Daniel. "I remember when I visited and you complimented me. I think the odds will be in your favor to make yourself legendary," I said. I tried to stay positive – I figured that would help alleviate the feeling of dread. It was cruel to instill false hope – that was the Capitol's job, not mine. However, if he took after his brother, he might actually have a chance.

Andrew cried when the Peacekeepers took Daniel away. He wasn't quite three months old and he already seemed to know something wasn't right – smart baby. The 47 year old Andrew was too tough to cry, but the father was just as pained as the nephew.

For the tribute parade, District Twelve's stylists reprised a tired old gimmick – our tributes appeared in the chariots naked and covered in coal dust.

Apple Smith was especially heartbreaking to watch - like many of our past tributes, including both last year, she was a pitiful sight putting on a brave face. The quick Capitol touchup couldn't hide several years of starvation, and ironically seemed to hurt her in making an impression. The black powder highlighted her ribs.

However, the soot was highlighting other features on Daniel. He was thin, but thanks to the food Jacob stole, he wasn't as dangerously underweight as his district partner. Intellectually, I found it disgusting how he was being paraded before leering Capitol citizens. On the other hand, I had to tell myself _You're a married woman. You're a married woman._ Jackie was even more conflicted – I could have been married to his brother, she actually was.

The outfit or lack thereof seemed effective for Daniel; maybe the stylists were trying to appear balanced by doing the same thing for both tributes.

The volunteers felt like the usual faceless horde; I had to make myself remember that those six kids were victims of the Capitol much like Daniel, Apple and the other sixteen. Annie Hickok, the girl from District Ten, was the only other impressive non-volunteer. Her training score of nine matched Daniel's.

"The dust isn't so fun when you're breathing it in," Daniel told Caesar. It sounded like a joke about the costume, but it was a serious concern in District Twelve, a deadly serious one – Jackie was already worrying about how it was going to shorten Jacob's lifespan. Jacob's father Andrew and older brother Adam were already well on their way to that fate. It pained me as a healer that I could do so little about it.

"That costume or lack thereof made quite an impression," Caesar opened. "And I bet a lot of the women and some of the men in this country want you to make quite an impression on them," he joked, taking it a bit to glibly even for him.

"Fine by me. One of my brothers is taken, but I'm not," he shot back.

"Tell us about him," Caesar said, seizing the opportunity.

"The odds have been in his favor with the ladies. He dated two of the prettiest women in the district and married one of them." Jacqueline and I cast celebratory glances at each other over being complimented on national television. "I have to say, my nephew is the coolest little dude."

"I bet he is, I bet he is," Caesar said enthusiastically. "I think you'll be seeing them again. I can't bet, but if I could, I'd bet on you." _Flickerman said something similar to several tributes – apparently he was hedging his bets._

"I will be coming home, and I look forward to taking all the other Everdeens to Victors Village with me. Now the odds are in my favor," he closed confidently. As for the talk about supporting his family; what else would you do with the massive perks of victory? The inner district kids were dangerous and had made that clear, but no one had a story like Daniel's. Those of us close to the Everdeens figured that the skills honed in illicit woodland excursions would prove useful in the arena.

The whole district had reason to be hopeful, but most of the town seemed ambivalent. They didn't truly know the hell the Everdeens had a chance to escape from through Daniel. I couldn't fully understand their situation either, but I at least tried. It seems there were few decent people amongst what passed for the well to do of District 12. We didn't know the hunger where a year of free food from the Capitol would be a literal lifesaver. Most of us couldn't identify with the dark skinned boy from across the district, the likes of which were our customers, the classmates of our children. Many gravitated towards people from across the country just because they were other palefaces. The District Two boy Phoenix Augustus was a particular favorite this year.

The arena looked dry and hot. Capitol residents surely had machines to chill the air and vent away the heat. The Capitol kept us in the dark about life in other districts, so I'm not sure how the other eleven managed the heat – or didn't. I was already seeing people collapse in puddles of sweat not to rise; it reminded me of those freezing to death during the winter.

Once the gong went off, Daniel was amongst the tributes rushing into the mouth of the Cornucopia. He and Titanium, the boy from One, were fighting over a pack of knives – no scrapes, since the blades weren't unsheathed yet.

As expected, Apple was one of the first to die. She was speared by Octavia with a smile on the District Two girl's face. Daniel must have caught it out of the corner of his eye. He viciously elbowed Titanium to temporarily gain the upper hand in that fight. He raised the same left arm into the air and folded thumb over forefinger. It was an ancient sign of respect in our district. He didn't have time to kiss the three middle fingers before raising the hand, but that was understandable. The gesture was often used as a goodbye at funerals, and it was the only attention Apple got besides slaking Capitol bloodlust. That fleeting moment had a lasting impact on those who knew what it meant.

Ten children were slaughtered in the opening moments. Annie Hickok had killed the boy from Four, and Lotus was running with a spear to avenge her district partner. Daniel opened the pack of knives he had wrested from Titanium and threw one at Lotus. It hit her in the back of the right leg as the foot landed. Fortunately, Daniel remained among the living, but unfortunately, he had to become one of the killers.

Hovercraft plucked the corpses out of the arena. Capitol morticians would clean them up and ship them back to the home districts for burial. They wouldn't be buried yet if their district partner was still alive – perhaps they would be buried together, perhaps the other one would attend the funeral as a Victor. Twelve was in this limbo, and so were Three, Five, Seven, Eight and Ten. All of this year's tributes from Four and Nine had met their end. This was surprising for the volunteers from the seafood district, but One and Two were still at full strength like usual. However, it was surprising to see no one from Six or Eleven dead yet.

The Capitol got the districts to hate each other instead of the city controlling them; the Games and favoritism to certain districts were a key part of that. They did something similar within District Twelve, as I knew all too well, and perhaps within the other districts as well.

Annie Hickok cracked a barbed whip that was positively vicious even by Gamemaker standards. Phoenix was deadly with a bow and arrow; Jacob had professional respect for one of the biggest threats to his brother's life.

A surprising amount of non-volunteers had escaped the bloodbath. They tried to hide, but the arena sands provided little cover, and the heat wore them down. The volunteers killed four more at range that evening. Three at least met a clean end by arrow or javelin, but one was bludgeoned to death with thrown rocks. I'm sure the sadistic bastards in the Capitol audience would love that.

Daniel and Annie were working together, and they ambushed the group of volunteers the next morning. Titanium paid dearly for not being able to get those knives from Daniel.

Many tributes of any gender had figured out that taking some clothes off was a way to both deal with the heat and draw sponsor attention. This was emphasized when Daniel whipped off his sweaty shirt and a parachute immediately dropped a full canteen for him. I could see how attractive Annie looked with her clothes clinging to her curves – I'm straight but I'm not blind. She was being given plenty of water too.

There were a few drinking water sources near the edge of the arena, but the distance to them and the minimal cover almost defeated the point. There wasn't much dirty water to purify or much to purify it with.

Danny and Annie ambushed the volunteers again the next morning, strangling the girls with pieces of cloth. This gave Daniel a chance to kill Apple's killer. These deaths were quiet, not disturbing a still-sleeping Phoenix. The cannons would rouse him, so the killers left quickly, leaving the supplies untouched.

The Gamemakers usually amplified the spectacle when there were only eight tributes left, but the tribute pool had shrunk from nine to seven in an instant. So the Capitol would interview who the final _seven_ knew back home. I identified myself as one of the prettiest women in the district as per Daniel's interview speech. "He's such a gentleman, I can't wait to see him get back to us," I finished.

Many symptoms of dehydration weren't visible over a screen, but it was obvious the girls from Five, Six and Seven were suffering, along with the boy from Eleven. They collapsed at various times during the fourth day while trying to get to the oases at the arena edge.

Daniel and Annie's fragile alliance disintegrated now that there was only one other left. The brutal weather further stretched their patience until it reached a breaking point. Her sharp whip had a long reach, and she badly scraped him several times, but he backed up and threw his knives.

He didn't have medical supplies, but he bound his wounds with regular cloth to stanch the blood and keep the sand out. He rested and slept in what passed for shade. An exhausted Phoenix did the same.

They were both up at the crack of dawn, looking for each other. This let both of them move around in daylight before the arena temperature skyrocketed. When they came into each others' view, the Games came down to who could shoot best.

Phoenix blew a couple of silvery arrows while Daniel was just a bit out of range. Daniel recovered them, and while he couldn't snap them, he bent them into uselessness should Phoenix ever be able to come back from them.

Daniel's knives couldn't fly nearly as far, so he ran in to throw, let a knife loose, and retreated before Phoenix could take aim. However, this necessary haste caused him to miss. Yet the next time, he managed to hit Phoenix's left hand – the nondominant one, but he still hampered his enemy's ability to hold a bow steady.

Phoenix's next arrow merely grazed Daniel's side. Daniel bravely charged in to throw another blade, and scored a similarly indirect hit. He ducked, and felt an arrow go right over his head. He sprung up from his crouch with another blade in hand and threw it almost blindly before hitting the ground again. However, the odds were in his favor, and it hit Phoenix in the chest. The twenty-third cannon sounded, and the third Everdeen child became his district's third victor.

Haymitch had nearly been disemboweled; the surgeons six years ago had some serious work to do. The doctors this year just needed to disinfect some cuts and rehydrate him beyond plain water.

Jacqueline and I sat and talked after the broadcast of the victor interview. "The way we were celebrating, the new Victor is liable to have another niece or nephew."

"Jackie, even with the money and time to take care of it, this seems awfully quick to have another one. I would have spaced them more," I advised her.

"Well, he's rich now," I said morosely to Mother.

"Honey, it isn't just that," she responded. "He still looks and acts different because of where he's from, and that won't change once he has some money. I wish you wouldn't even associate with those rats, but at least you didn't shack up with one of them and get knocked up."

"That's not what it's called when the man marries her first," I spat back. _I purposely didn't marry Jacob, and yet __my mother's__ vile language had gotten even worse.__ Granted, she had a point about how run-down the houses were._

"Either way, it would have produced a half-breed, a child neither Merchant class nor Seam classless," she answered. She really did like Phillip and Ceres, and this vitriol was her twisted way of supporting my decision to take the road most traveled.

Thinking about Daniel's victory tour reminded me of Julius' visit last year. He had killed neither of the tributes from our district and had even killed their killer. It was a sort of mercy for the grieving families to not have to face the person responsible for their loved one's death. Also, the way he dealt with Onyx was widely respected – it helped make the bloodlust seem justifiable.

"It's just the way it is in the districts and arena," Julius said. "Talk about live hard, die hard," he joked. _He had figured out the Capitol but cast__ it as a dirty joke._ This year, he had been joined by a good man who already understood the Capitol's evil.


	7. When Danny Came Marching Home

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually follows her family's advice to turn him down. She marries Phillip Mellark the same day Jacob marries another woman. Ingrid and Phillip are incredibly happy together, but are shaken by the brutality of the Games. They're amongst the newlyweds who start families. An existing family stays whole when Jacob's brother survives the arena._

**Chapter**

August 18th was a good day for District Twelve. A Capitol train returned bearing a victor. It also carried a dead body, horrible enough, but one of those was better than two, and living in the districts hammered down one's expectations and kept them there. As the train pulled into our station, most of the district mobbed the platform, but his family gathered around at the front of the crowd. I heard the first car echo with a loud triumphant sound. Daniel and Haymitch were a small crowd, but what they lacked for in quantity, they made up in volume. However, the second car was silent. We listened close, but couldn't hear anything. It must contain Apple's coffin, a body no longer able to speak or cheer.

Daniel had killed the boy from District Two to assure his victory, and they had a victor only last year. However, the girl from District Ten hadn't been far behind, so this would be particularly hard to watch there. To make it home, Daniel had to extend their sorrow to a quarter century. Yet if Annie Hickok had made it home, our hopes would have been just as cruelly dashed. I only hope they recognized who was truly at fault.

Someone from the Capitol media team asked Daniel "So how do you feel about moving to Victors Village?"

"I left The Seam, but The Seam hasn't left me," he answered. He wouldn't forget the harsh reality of where he came from – how could you? I was shaken enough by a few months' incidental exposure. He wouldn't forget the people who were still there.

I was one of many gawkers as they actually moved into Victors Village, but I was one of the few allowed a good look. The dozen identical mansions made the Mellark bakery look like a Seam shack. The Everdeens, who actually knew those hovels, looked a mixture of shocked and vindicated.

The waste sickened me, although not the Everdeens' spacious new quarters in and of themselves. Nine of the palaces had never been used. One more currently wasn't being used – it had been occupied by our first victor, who had met an early death. It seems our second victor was well on his way to one.

Lily and Haymitch both won Quarter Quells, which were especially twisted versions of the Games held every twenty-five years.

The districts had to choose their tributes to the 25th Games. My parents and Phillip's were slightly past reaping age then. However, Andrew and Sarah Everdeen were amongst the older children in that year's reaping, and Sarah had once told me how it went. She was Sarah Nielsen then, but her and Andrew were already lovers. The two of them were amongst those who chose Lily, thinking she had the best chance. They were right about that, but unaware that it would be a false victory. The lower districts always did this with their volunteers, so the odds hadn't been skewed as far in their favor that year.

The Capitol chose twice as many for the 50th Games, and Maysilee had been the 2nd District Twelve female. The deaths were always senseless, but this circumstance made her loss especially painful. Supposedly two rebels had died for every Capitol citizen, now innocents died for the amusement of Capitol citizens. They warned that even more would die if we became rebels again. The best of us remained rebels in spirit yet recognized there was no real possibility to put that into action – we wouldn't let them break us, yet we realized it was foolish to simply add our bodies to the pile.

I half-remembered some lines from Phillip's book, the same one in which he had found the name for our daughter. _Do you think it better to suffer through horrible misfortune, or to rise up against it and by that opposition end it?_

My attention snapped back to more mundane concerns when one of the cameramen tapped my shoulder, wanting me to move as his lens followed Daniel's move-in. I wonder how these exquisite District residences compared to average Capitol ones. The media crew didn't let on, probably out of professionalism as well as being experienced with this procedure. Other Capitol agents had already brought in the heavy furnishings; at this point Daniel and his relatives brought mainly their bodies and a few meager personal effects.

Monthly food shipments were part of the cruel bargain the Capitol offered when it set up the Games. Many of the slightly older children were instantly drawn to the snacks that came with the first batch. To those used to rough grain paste if that, this was unimaginably beautiful, a rainbow in the dark of our lives. I think I recognized the Hawthorne boy in the crowd. He looked new to solid food, sucking on that sugar cube as if it was one of Hazelle's teats. I didn't dwell much on the candies - they reminded me too much of Maysilee and the sweets shop run by her family. My own Ceres was still at the breast, and would be for some time. Andrew 2 was similar in that regard. Besides, I was too busy helping Phillip with the sacks of flour and other baking staples. For once District Twelve would eat well; that would make all of the food merchants even busier, but we had a role to play and we knew how important it was.

A few weeks after Daniel's victory, he was summoned back to the Capitol on some sort of Victor business. He secured a berth on one of the trains the Capitol used to transport resources stolen from the Districts. When he returned, like when he returned from the Games, I joined the Everdeens at the station.

"Snow just wanted me to sleep with some Capitol women…and men," Daniel said easily upon this return from the Capitol. "I'm more flexible than I thought," he added nervously.

"Doesn't change the fact that you're my brother," Jacob said calmly.

Adam slapped him on the back and cheerfully said "I knew you'd be getting laid plenty and soon enough!"

"You can't complain either," Daniel parried. "I bet that Townie is barely eighteen," he added while watching Angela cling to Adam.

"Yeah, we had to wait for her birthday," Adam agreed.

"It was worth it, though," Angela said. "These Seam guys seem like far better men than the average Town jerk."

"Tell me about it!" I piped in. "It seems Melody Donner and I married two of the few decent men in the Merchant Section."

"Yeah, I don't know how I ended up with that loser Fergus. We rush to the Justice Building when he got me pregnant – this turned out to be a bad idea, though how I love baby Bridget. I'd been tempted by you folks, thought I 'knew better', Danny's victory encouraged me to give you guys a chance."

"I thought the fountain of gold was more than enough, let alone this fountain of beauty," Adam said while gesturing at Angela.

Angela laughed and added "Bridget likes it too. Adam already seems like more of a father in one month than Fergus did in several."

"Daniel was the one to emerge from the arena, but it seems all of the Everdeens were victors."


	8. Rainbows In The Dark

_Previously in The Road Most Traveled: Ingrid Kolster falls in love with Jacob Everdeen, but eventually follows her family's advice to turn him down. She marries Phillip Mellark the same day Jacob marries another woman. Ingrid and Phillip are incredibly happy together, but are shaken by the brutality of the Games. They're amongst the newlyweds who start families. An existing family stays whole when Jacob's brother survives the arena. Daniel and his family enjoy the victor life so far._

**Chapter**

Phillip held Ceres even tighter that you'd expect, but he would never hurt his darling girl, oh no. I already knew that the hands so strong in the bakery were so tender in the bedroom, but they were even gentler in the nursery. He could barely stay away from our little girl, which I took as not just a good sign, but the most beautiful sight I had yet known. "I knew it," Phillip said.

"Knew what, my solid crust?" I asked. I had taken easily to calling him that, for the crust supports the loaf form the bottom as well as protect it from the outside, guarding something soft and sweet on the inside.

"That the only other girl I'd ever love would call you mother – when she's old enough to talk, that is," he answered. _Oh, that man is so sweet._ Ceres had a thin fuzz of golden hair atop her adorable little head. Phillip had just come from mixing dough, and the flour left on his hands turned that minimal blonde hair white. Our love for her would take very different forms as she grew older, but however we changed, she could be stolen from us in twelve years' time. Yet we couldn't let that fear conquer our joy, especially since those rainbows in the dark dulled the other pain the Capitol inflicted. That's one of many things that made the Games so horrible, one way the Capitol masterminds demonstrated their deviousness.

Many men wanted sons, especially one to be named so-and-so the second, but Phillip wasn't so fixated. "I wanted a little girl with you and like you more than anything, and now that I have both in my life, I realize how right I was," he explained once, but a consistent sentiment it was.

Jacob got the little boy he had wanted, but he was no typical full-of-himself man either. He had thought of a Jacob II, and couples that shared an initial often used that initial for all their children, but they decided that 2 J's was enough. It was an easy jump from Jacob II to Andrew II. The plants in his beloved woods offered many names for girls, but not so many for boys.

To hear Jacqueline tell it, Jacob was dearly attached to their little Andrew, to be sure, but Phillip was even more so with Ceres. Jacob relished teaching his child much and more as they grew older. Even in the Merchant Section, we had more than enough work to do with the newborn. I'm not sure how they managed in the Seam before Daniel sent them to Victors Village. In some ways they hadn't, but to some extent, Jacob found a way.

Pregnant and nursing women were given somewhat higher rations by the Capitol, although before Daniel's victory and the resulting general increase in rations, that was a cruel joke. Did the Capitol laugh at the dead and dying babies as they would at those children a decade or so later? Their families begged for more, and the Capitol granted a sorry excuse for that at a heavy price - even more entries in the Reaping. Most in the Seam, especially those without someone as bold as Jacob in their lives, depended on those tesserae. Those of Reaping age could draw tesserae for close relatives as well as themselves, including children-to-be.

Sometimes I could barely let go of the little angel, but Phillip was spending even more time with our bundle of joy than I was, a relief when her cloths needed to be changed. Well, there was that one thing only Mommy could do. When even Phillip's cooing couldn't calm her, it meant I was to feed her. Artificial milk or devices to harvest one's own simply weren't common. I knew how healthy it was not only for Ceres but for me. That was what the globes on my chest were there for, after all. I wish I had the details known to professional medical academics on that and so many other features of the human body. I picked up a squalling baby and held a content one sucking. Phillip carried a sleeping one back to her bed.

I tucked the drained breast away again and muttered "The bite marks…"

Phillip overheard, and thought I was referring to appearance instead of pain. "Nothing would ever change how beautiful you are to me," he said. Like most of the district, he recognized the practicality of the act. Sweet man that he was, he couched the realization as a tender compliment.

"Was it a baker who said that pregnant women have a bun in the oven?" I asked.

"Maybe not, my sweet crumb," he answered. "For bread is universal, and I know of no bun recipe that calls for an egg, plus sausage drippings, at 100 degrees for nine months."

"You're funny, my love. Now care to give me another taste of that sausage?" I said, laughing and teasing at the same time.

And so as Ceres slept, we did anything but. He cupped my butt, the soft skin and cloth gladly sinking beneath his firm yet tender fingers. "I am glad you are not so timid anymore about making your Ingrid happy," I offered. He illustrated that by climbing out of his pants as he pulled down mine.

"We really do bring out the best in each other," he agreed. "Especially as we're in each other," he added while smiling. With that, he wrapped his legs around me and thrust. The bed braced my back as I gazed into his eyes, heard his moan at the edge of pleasure for several minutes, and felt him push forward into me. I rode several waves before his own crested.

There was a third very happy young woman in our little group. Angela had the right of it – Adam was more of a father to Bridget than the boy who has spilled his seed in the Cartwright girl.

Angela and Fergus separated - I thought of it as an annulment, admitting that the marriage shouldn't have happened in the first place. I admit Mr. Larkin had a point when he cited Angela's encounters with Adam as grounds for divorce. Fortunately, the Justice Building staff saw the sense in letting Angela keep her little girl nevertheless. Fergus was teased for being cuckolded by the victor's brother. Some town males, for I hesitate to use the term 'men', joked that Fergus was lucky to get off child support. "I think I'm the lucky guy for having a new daughter, not to mention _having_ her mother," Adam rebutted. "I don't know what Fergus was thinking."

I went with Angela as she moved in with the Everdeens, taking Bridget with her. Bridget and Andrew II's cribs ended up in the same room in Victors' Village – that mansion had more than enough space for separate nurseries, but the Everdeens couldn't accustom themselves to such waste after having had so little. "We can alternate who gets a decent night's sleep," Angela observed and suggested to Jacqueline.

"Lucky you," I told them.

"You know how beautifully Jacob sings," Jacqueline told me. "Well, little Andrew certainly sleeps well with Jacob providing the lullabies." He was putting his son to bed to the classic tune of _Deep In The Meadow. _I think we all saw Bridget smile at the sound too. Some of us almost cried with joy.

Phillip delivered the freshest bread to those who could now very much afford it. Haymitch preferred his starches fermented, and often wasn't awake at that hour anyway. Even freed of the mines, the Everdeen men still rose early. It was often Adam who took the delivery. Phillip said they talked a lot about their adorable girls and the beautiful mothers thereof.

**A/N**

I wanted to post something for Father's Day and such material wouldn't have fit in my other stories until later in the storylines. Adam the stepfather provided something somewhat non-traditional. I often have on-topic scenes for holidays, such as last year's _Carry On_ and _A Boy Named Gale_ about Katniss' and Gale's fathers.


End file.
